Unknown gunmen kill 24

It was all tears yesterday in a Kaduna State community where unknown gunmen killed 24.

The motive for the attack on Dongo Dawa village in Gwari Local Government Area remained unclear last night.

Some reports said the gunmen were on a reprisal mission after being dislodged from the village; others said they were armed robbers.

A resident reported that the gunmen were disguised in police uniforms as they stormed a mosque just before sunrise, shooting worshippers.

Kaduna Police chief Olufemi Adenaike confirmed the casualty figure.

Mr Adenaike said four suspected gunmen were arrested by the vigilance group in the area.

He said: “On 14/10/2012 at about 0530hrs, a suspected gang of armed bandits, numbering about 10, stormed Dogon Dawa village, killing 24 persons. Information had it that a few of the victims were returning from their morning prayers while the rest were attacked in their various homes.”

He said: “The command swung into action by mobilising a unit of the Police Mobile Force (PMF) personnel and conventional operatives to the scene, where all the exits were properly manned by the police and army as hunt for the perpetrators is in top gear. Meanwhile investigation has commenced and security presence maintained”

Adenaike added: “Some members of the vigilance group from Dogon Dawa village went to Kuyello village, arrested four persons suspected to be members of a notorious gang terrorising their areas and took them to Dogon Dawa village for questioning.”

An Army officer said: “It is a clear case of armed robbery.”

Lt. Col. Sani Usman added: “The last time I spoke with my (contact) in the area, he said it was 20 people dead.”

A traditional ruler in the village told NAN in a telephone interview that a large number of gunmen held the village captive, opened fire on worshippers who were returning from a mosque after the early morning prayers.

He said the gunmen were believed to have moved from Zamfara State to the area.

The Nation gathered that the gunmen, who operated in the area before being chased out, regrouped and returned to the village on a reprisal, having lost some of their men.

Sources said that the gunmen might have escaped from a prison in one of the negbouring states. They have been operating along the Kaduna/Birnin Gwari highway before the community set up the vigilance group to fish out the criminals.

A highly dependable source said “sometimes ago, there were series of armed robbery operation in the area especially along the Kaduna/ Birnin Gwari highway. Some women were even raped in the process.

“So the community set up a vigilance group to find out who were responsible and put an end to it. They have being doing a good job as they were able to identify some of those responsible for the robberies and other criminal activities in the area.

“A former hakimi (district head) in Dogo Dawa was in charge of the committee that was responsible for sanitising the area and that was why, in the last three months, there was no robbery in the area. People were able to identify the criminals and they were being eliminated silently one after the other.

“The criminals must have fled the village. This morning, they went to the house of the man they suspected to be responsible for identifying them. They killed him and two of his children and cut the hand of his wife. They also killed 17 other people in the village.

“I learnt that those people they killed were just coming from the early morning prayers. I can confirm to you that it was not a robbery operation, but it was the criminals themselves that came for a reprisal attack because the people have been identifying them”.

Another source said that the criminals sent a message to the community that they were coming back on a revenge mission having lost some of their members.

The Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Restore Order (ORO),yesterday on Sunday confirmed an early morning blast on Bama Road in Maiduguri, the beleaguered, Bornor State capital.

JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, said in Maiduguri that the blast did not record any casualty.

“It is true that we had a blast along Bama Road in the early hours of Sunday. The truth is that there was no casualty.”

Lt.-Col. Musa explained that the bomb was planted on the road in anticipation of the JTF patrol vans.

“They were probably targeting our patrol vans or other civilians. But, fortunately, the bomb went off without hitting any target.”

He said to residents of the state to be vigilant and report suspicious objects to the JTF promptly.

45 thoughts on “Unknown gunmen kill 24”

Please stop deceiving us, If the incident were happened in the church, it is done by BH but the victims now are Muslims, the story is a dislodged armed rubber or gunmen. Nigeria is heading into something else if the proper investigation is not done on this unlawful killing of innocent lives but in the mosques and churches. Our security agencies must be up to the task and government should equip them with latest tools to combat this monster. Kaduna by nature is a volatile state which every body wants to proof his presence. God bless Nigeria

Your absolutely rigth , BH to them is their tonque and if teeth beat tonque , it’s appeared shamful to call it that way but to furnish it with another name . But the impertial judge of this world is watching and will surely deliver his judgment one day .

Thank you Abiodun, Muslims are now endangererd species in this Country.
These perpetrator s are most likely Christian Fanatics and terrorist but since muslims are the victims , it has to be differently labelled. Where are we going ?

Otito,you are a blocked head bastard,the muslims have refused to label the killings to BH becouse this will be shame unto them for the world to know that the finger that fed is now being beaten by he who feeds the terrorist.Say it the way it is and stop using christianity as your your own suspect.No christian will involve himself in the act of terrorism in any litle way.Please note.

God help Nigeria, killings every where, Is anybody safe? Jonathan your confusion is confusing me o. For God sake are you comfortable with these things happening in your administration? Well I still have high hopes in you… Just don’t let us down… We can’t wait to sing your praises in 2013…

The nigeria christein association should call their people to order.In jos inocent fulani are the targetof their hostile agression,now it is the inocent worshippers.Now the nigeria christein military are it is armed robbers that came to the masjid,good story

my dear u dnt have to hide ur thought,u can easily shout allah hakuba and start the killing of any infidel in the north.idiot……a generation of irresponsible fellows who enjoy nothing bt the blood of xtians.u shud have asked ur BH to wipe the whole village so that u have a justification to kill us.listen xtians dnt enjoy muslim’s blood cos its tasteless rather its you muslims who enjoy the blood of xtians.

People need to understand that the security challenges in this country and especially in the north is complex. Each community or area have it’s own peculiar problem. This is a clear case of reprisal attack. We live here and understand the situation better.

If were to be that the killing took place in a church, we would have had headlines like “muslims killed more than 20 worshippers in church”, “Muslim boko haram at it again killing more than 20 worshippers in church”. Now, muslims were killed in the mosque, without proper investigation and with low profile headline, what we have is” 24 killed in kaduna” and within twinkle of an eye, the investigation shows that it was a reprisal attack by arm robbers. One of the problems confronting Nigeria is unbalanced reportage by our media houses.

Injustice in al ramifications is d major source of Nigeria problems and unles some pragmatic steps ar taken, dis country is heading 2 distruction. One of d most bias Newspaper I have ever seen in dis country is THE NATION. This paper is always d 1st 2 report and label any attack as d ‘work’ of Boko-Haram but now dat d victims were mainly muslims, d perpetrators were simply seen by d ‘good reporters’ of The Nation as ‘armed robbers’. Can’t u b fair atleast for once? Are u saying it is dsame muslims who ar killing one another? We ar tired of al dis ur one-sided stories al of d time…

Be a good reader my brother. If the village head said it is the work of armed bandit what else do you want the paper to report. Creating unneccessary confussion can’t take us all anywhere. From your comments, it seems all you want to read was that you had expected the story favours you & the side you belong.

Worshippers which are muslims were been killed while coming back from the Mosque and the Nigerian Media never made it know to the whole world that such killing is occuring in the north.Meanwhile it is a known fact that the fanatics and extremist christians are perpetrating all this act,this now shows that the Nigerian Media is no more Relaible, full of biased and also compromise the international standard of reporting.

Why are most commentator here really sectional? Why accusing Christians for a clear issue that were stated as attack by Armed robbers on repreisal attack? Can all the newspaper just be wrong to state thesame thing? Why don’t we fear God in Nigeria when we pretend to serve him? Whether you are a Christian or Muslim, judgement awaits all when we face the throne of judgement. It is not issue of one hiding under a religion to perpetrate evil.
All religion preaches peace but we know those that dont really want peace but touts it as the basis of their religion while they are always out to do evil. God is there to revenge the blood of the innocent dead on the deceitful religious bigots who thought their followers to kill fellow human being created by God for them to enter ‘heaven’.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL THE WHILE IS THAT TRUE MUSLIMS AND ISLAM ARE INNOCENT OF ALL THESE HEINOUS ACTS BUT THE CHRISTIANS AND THE MEDIA ARE INSISTING MUSLIMS MUST BE BLAMED, DO YOU KNOW THAT CIA OF AMERICA TRAINED PEOPLE THAT CAN MIMIC AND IMITATE ANY APPEARANCE INCLUDING TURBAN AND BEARD WEARING, ALL THESE CHAOS ARE ACTUALLY FOREIGN INTERESTS BENT ON DISMEMBERING THE COUNTRY, BUT LET THE MEDIA BE FAIR ON THE MUSLIMS. 9/11 ATTACK WAS ALSO CARRIED OUT BY THE JEWS AND AMERICA TO BLACKMAIL MUSLIMS,LETS WISE UP!

If this your conclusion is a result of been “WISE UP” I would rather be foolish! America would kill over 3000 of its citizens to blackmail Muslims? Common! What wisdom is that? I’ll be surprised to know that you are not aware that Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for this evil act that even reasonable Muslims condemned.

How can you lie to yourself so convincingly? Even some Muslims are questioning the rationale of serving a God you have to keep on defending, especially when you have to defend your God (who is suppose to be all Powerful and Forgiving) by killing innocent people who might not even be aware of the reason for your fight.

OTITO KORO, OR WHATEVER YOU CALL YOURSELF, YOU ARE A BIG FOOL TO DISSEMINATE WRONG INFORMATION ABOUT 9/11.SO YOU ARE TELLING US THAT YOUR BROTHER IN CRIME, OSAMA BIN LADEN IS A JEW. THE SECURITY AGENTS IN NIGERIA SHOULD FISH YOU OUT TO TELL US ALL YOU KNOW ABOUT KILLERS., BOKOS HARAMS..

Lieutenant Colonel Sani Usman told AFP, confirming the shooting….. “It is a clear court case of armed robbery” This donkey representing Nigeria Army sef, they got to understand that not only the uncivilize and primitive Africa donkey to them thinking are reading this senseless shit, human being who regard human lives around the world are reading this unprofessional bulshit too.

Imagine this statement I quote “another source said that the criminals sent a message to the community that they were coming back on a revenge mission having lost some of their members” In quote this goes to show how lackadaisical and insignificant our law enforcement agents attaches to issue of security. If our law enforcement agents are serious enough they would have nipped these gruesome killings to the bud. I know they must have been duly informed of this revenge mission, but due to the fact that it is not a place they can extort money that was why they felt unconcerned about it. Inspector General of police has a case to answer for this extra judiciary killings. Government should not be paying huge amount of money for the policing of its citizenry, yet the agency whose slogan depicts “Police are our friends” are not doing their jobs as they ought to do and their neglect has created lope holes for extra judiciary killings in the country. If the law enforcement agents are up and doing most of the crimes would have been nipped to bud. The killings, either Christians or Muslim are totally condemned and barbaric too.
Way forward let the agency policing the citizenry be up and doing. They should be at alert and follow-up any report of reprisal attack and stop entirely all these lackadaisical attitude to their official callings. With this, the unwholesome killings here and there will reduce drastically. Our Nigerian police have the enabling environment and all it takes if they really want to dislodge any crime.
God bless our Country Nigeria.

This is again very unlawful for Nigerians to take such law into their hands by taking the lives of innocent souls. I think the Govt has a lot to do in the security aspect. Nigeria as a whole is not secured, now it happens that you only sleep and if your fortunate enough to wake without being slaughtered at home or at door post you thank God. If not you join our ancestors. Please I plead, the Govt should sit up, and set up or employ able hands into the security of Nigeria let our young people stop dyeing young Nigeria was a bless nation were every body dream of the greener pasture now what is our faith. Only God knows.

Some people cant comprehend simple english.religious fanatics…wel! If ur religion is a peaceful one evrybody can see it…but one tin is sure dat we shal al reap wateva we sow…wen u kno d trut,it shal set u free

Fellow Nigerians, let us stop throwing tantrums on this sad development.. Whether Christians or Muslims, the fact remains that Nigerians are dying and we should support the government and her agencies to arrest these ugly situation. This is a pure case of reprisal by criminals, be it Christian or Muslim criminals and as another report said that a notice of their coming to revenge their dead colleagues was sent to the community leader before this sad event.
We should expunge religious dimension from what has happened and focus on the ugly situation that another set of Nigerians were killed yesterday.May their souls rest in peace

I think there is need for Kaduna State Commisioner of Police to go back to IGP’S police transformatoin class room to enable him have the corrage/capability to fish out the papetrators of this crime. Not to go to media and be deffending brutal behaviour by his surbodinate a police officer who comitted an offence and ended it by murdering an innocent citizen for been a piece maker. IGP, DIGS and AIGS to take note

sometimes i dont want 2 read comments on this newspapers bcoz there are so many sentiments that can bring violence among people, so pls be one nation & sort out whoever has hand in spoiling out great nation.

I WONDER IF WE STILL HAVE ARMED FORES,SHAGARI GOVERNMENT OF 1983 WAS NOT AS BAD AS THIS PDP AND JONATHAN GOVERNMENT THAT THEY TOPPLED,WHY NOT GET THIS JONATHAN GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR WAY,ARE THEY WAITING FOR US TO DIE FINISH BEFORE THEY DO WHAT THEY ARE TRAIN AND PAID FOR.

TAKE HIM OUT WITH ALL HIS PEOPLE AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL,LEAVE THE GOVERNORS,THE REORGANIZE INEC AND WITHIN 12 MONTHS DO ANOTHER ELECTION AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL AND HAND OVER,WITHIN THIS 12 MONTHS PUT THE NATION IN ORDER SECURITY WISE.

This is again very unlawful for Nigerians to take such law into their hands by taking the lives of innocent souls. I think the Govt has a lot to do in the security aspect. Nigeria as a whole is not secured, now it happens that you only sleep and if your fortunate enough to wake without being slaughtered at home or at door post you thank God. If not you join our ancestors. Please I plead, the Govt should sit up, and set up or employ able hands into the security of Nigeria let our young people stop dyeing young Nigeria was a bless nation were every body dream of the greener pasture now what is our faith. Only God knows.

sentiment from both sides, if a muslim should be a president during ds time some big grammer wil be blowing but bcs it belong to u, all what u are saying is that is trying. Let us continue decieving ourselves, GEJ is a big problm 4 ds nation bcs HE said & i cot : there is BH in my cabinet, why nt fixing dm out. If big money is stolen bonb wil rock Mosq or Chuch to divert our attention.

Killings of innocent ones has been the order of the day. When will we stop this nonsense thing in whatever guise it might be.
But the truth of the matter is that God will surely put a stop to this Senseless act of inhumanity against man.